Audition (film)
Encyclopedia
is a 1999 Japan
ese horror
film
directed by Takashi Miike
and starring Ryo Ishibashi
and Eihi Shiina
. It is based on a Ryu Murakami
novel of the same title
. Over the years, the film has developed a cult following
.
), a middle-aged man who lost his wife, to an illness seven years prior, is urged by his 17-year-old son, (Tetsu Sawaki
), to begin dating women again. Aoyama's friend and colleague, (Jun Kunimura), a film producer, devises a plan to hold a mock-audition, in which young, beautiful women would audition for the "part" of Aoyama's new wife, under the impression that they are auditioning for a new film.
Aoyama is immediately enchanted by (Eihi Shiina
). In her audition
, Asami says that she was once a ballerina, but had to give up dancing after an injury. Aoyama, still reeling from the death of his wife, is attracted to her apparent emotional depth.
Yoshikawa warns him about Asami, saying that he has a bad feeling about her; he couldn't reach any of the references on her résumé
, and her job history is shaky. The music producer she claimed to work for has gone missing. Aoyama is so enthralled by her, however, that he pursues the romance anyway.
She lives in an empty apartment, furnished only with a sack and a telephone. Four days after the audition, she sits perfectly still in the middle of the floor next to the telephone, waiting for it to ring. When it finally does, the sack lurches across the room and makes gurgling sounds. She ignores it as she waits a few rings before answering.
When Asami answers the phone, she confesses to Aoyama that she never expected him to call. After several dates, she agrees to accompany him to a seaside hotel. Once at the hotel, Asami tells Aoyama about the abuse
she suffered as a child and shows him the burn scars on her body. A deeply moved Aoyama pledges his love, and they have sex.
The next morning, Aoyama is awakened by a telephone call; it is the front desk wondering if, since his companion left, he too would be checking out. He realizes Asami is nowhere to be found. Aayoma tries to track her down using her résumé, but she is nowhere to be found.
Aoyama visits the old ballet studio where Asami claimed to have trained for 12 years. He finds that the studio is now inhabited only by a wheelchair-bound old man with artificial feet. It is revealed that the man inflicted the burn scars on Asami's legs.
Then he goes to the bar where Asami used to work and someone tells him that it has been closed for a year because the woman who was in charge, the wife of a record producer, was found dismembered. When the police put her body back together, they found three extra fingers, an extra ear, and an extra tongue.
Asami goes to Aoyama's house during his search. Once there, she finds a photo of his dead wife. Enraged, she drugs his liquor decanter and hides. Aoyama comes home, pours a drink, and begins feeling the effects of the drug. The movie cuts to a sequence about Asami's past and present. In one scene, the contents of the sack are revealed to be a man missing both feet, his tongue, one ear and three fingers on one hand. He crawls out of the sack and begs for food. Asami vomits into a dog dish and places it on the floor for the man. The man sticks his face in the bowl of vomit, and hungrily consumes it.
Aoyama collapses, and Asami returns to the drugged and paralyzed Aoyama. As she walks into the room, the audience sees the twisted body of Aoyama's pet dog. She proceeds to inject Aoyama with an agent that paralyzes his body, but keeps his nerves alert. She then torture
s him with needles in his abdomen and under his eyes. As she is torturing him, she tells him that, just like everyone else in her life, he has failed to love only her — she cannot stand that he would have even platonic feelings for anyone else, even his own son. She explains that she is torturing him to teach him the meaning of needing someone. She tells him that, "words create lies, pain can be trusted." She then cuts off his left foot with a wire saw
while giggling.
While Asami begins to cut off his other foot, she is surprised by Aoyama's son returning home. She hides and prepares to attack him. He discovers his father on the floor, turns, and is surprised by Asami. Suddenly Aoyama has a dream that he is waking up after he and Asami had made love for the first time, and that his ordeal was only a nightmare. She says that she accepts his marriage proposal, despite him never actually proposing, and says that she is the heroine of his life. He awakes from this dream to see his son swing around and Asami fail to disable him. Shigehiko runs up a flight of stairs to escape her; as she follows him, he kicks her down the stairs, breaking her neck. Aoyama tells his son to call the police. As Aoyama lies in agony on the floor, he continues to stare at the dying figure of Asami, her neck broken in a way that she is facing him. She mutters things that she had told him earlier about waiting for his call, and being excited to see him again. He then remembers that, in his dream, he comforted her about her abuse history by saying, "It's hard to forget about...but someday you'll feel...that life is wonderful."
For its unflinching graphic content, the film has been likened to the film adaptation
of Stephen King's
Misery and Nagisa Oshima's
In the Realm of the Senses
. However, the torture scene in the movie is very brief, and only a few shots show the actual torture, focusing more on Asami's sadistic enjoyment of it. Among filmmakers featured on Bravo's "100 Scariest Movie Moments
" (on which the film appeared at #11), notable horror directors including Eli Roth
, John Landis
and Rob Zombie
found the film very difficult to watch, given its grisly content; Landis said that the film was so disturbing that he couldn't enjoy it at all. Bloody Disgusting
ranked the film fourteenth in their list of the 'Top 20 Horror Films of the Decade', with the article saying "Considered by many to be Takashi Miike’s masterpiece, this cringe-inducing, seriously disturbed film boasts one of the most unbearable scenes of torture in movie history... It’s revolting in the best possible way; the prolific Miike goes for the jugular here, and he cuts deep."
Japan
Japan is an island nation in East Asia. Located in the Pacific Ocean, it lies to the east of the Sea of Japan, China, North Korea, South Korea and Russia, stretching from the Sea of Okhotsk in the north to the East China Sea and Taiwan in the south...
ese horror
J-Horror
Japanese horror, or J-Horror, is Japanese horror fiction in popular culture, noted for its unique thematic and conventional treatment of the horror genre in light of western treatments...
film
Film
A film, also called a movie or motion picture, is a series of still or moving images. It is produced by recording photographic images with cameras, or by creating images using animation techniques or visual effects...
directed by Takashi Miike
Takashi Miike
is a highly prolific and controversial Japanese filmmaker. He has directed over seventy theatrical, video, and television productions since his debut in 1991. In the years 2001 and 2002 alone, Miike is credited with directing fifteen productions...
and starring Ryo Ishibashi
Ryo Ishibashi
is a Japanese actor and international celebrity. He is known around the world for his roles in the classic Japanese Horror films Suicide Club and Audition. He is also recognized in America for his role as Nakagawa in The Grudge and The Grudge 2....
and Eihi Shiina
Eihi Shiina
Eihi Shiina is a fashion model and actress from Fukuoka, Japan. She got her first big break in 1995, working for Benetton, after which she represented Japan at the global Elite Model Look '95. More magazine work followed.Shiina made her film debut in 1999 with Dog-Food...
. It is based on a Ryu Murakami
Ryu Murakami
is a Japanese novelist and filmmaker. He is colloquially referred to as the "Maradona of Japanese literature".-Biography:Born as Ryūnosuke Murakami in Sasebo, Nagasaki on February 19, 1952...
novel of the same title
Audition (novel)
is a Japanese novel by Ryu Murakami published in 1997 and published in English in 2009. It was the basis for the film by Takashi Miike released in 1999.- Plot summary :...
. Over the years, the film has developed a cult following
Cult film
A cult film, also commonly referred to as a cult classic, is a film that has acquired a highly devoted but specific group of fans. Often, cult movies have failed to achieve fame outside the small fanbases; however, there have been exceptions that have managed to gain fame among mainstream audiences...
.
Plot
(Ryo IshibashiRyo Ishibashi
is a Japanese actor and international celebrity. He is known around the world for his roles in the classic Japanese Horror films Suicide Club and Audition. He is also recognized in America for his role as Nakagawa in The Grudge and The Grudge 2....
), a middle-aged man who lost his wife, to an illness seven years prior, is urged by his 17-year-old son, (Tetsu Sawaki
Tetsu Sawaki
Tetsu Sawaki is a Japanese actor. Sawaki was born in Osaka, Japan.-Filmography:* Bright Future * Border Line * Ashita wa kitto * Gaichu...
), to begin dating women again. Aoyama's friend and colleague, (Jun Kunimura), a film producer, devises a plan to hold a mock-audition, in which young, beautiful women would audition for the "part" of Aoyama's new wife, under the impression that they are auditioning for a new film.
Aoyama is immediately enchanted by (Eihi Shiina
Eihi Shiina
Eihi Shiina is a fashion model and actress from Fukuoka, Japan. She got her first big break in 1995, working for Benetton, after which she represented Japan at the global Elite Model Look '95. More magazine work followed.Shiina made her film debut in 1999 with Dog-Food...
). In her audition
Audition
An audition is a sample performance by an actor, singer, musician, dancer or other performing artist.Audition may also refer to:* The sense of hearing* Adobe Audition, audio editing software...
, Asami says that she was once a ballerina, but had to give up dancing after an injury. Aoyama, still reeling from the death of his wife, is attracted to her apparent emotional depth.
Yoshikawa warns him about Asami, saying that he has a bad feeling about her; he couldn't reach any of the references on her résumé
Résumé
A résumé is a document used by individuals to present their background and skillsets. Résumés can be used for a variety of reasons but most often to secure new employment. A typical résumé contains a summary of relevant job experience and education...
, and her job history is shaky. The music producer she claimed to work for has gone missing. Aoyama is so enthralled by her, however, that he pursues the romance anyway.
She lives in an empty apartment, furnished only with a sack and a telephone. Four days after the audition, she sits perfectly still in the middle of the floor next to the telephone, waiting for it to ring. When it finally does, the sack lurches across the room and makes gurgling sounds. She ignores it as she waits a few rings before answering.
When Asami answers the phone, she confesses to Aoyama that she never expected him to call. After several dates, she agrees to accompany him to a seaside hotel. Once at the hotel, Asami tells Aoyama about the abuse
Child abuse
Child abuse is the physical, sexual, emotional mistreatment, or neglect of a child. In the United States, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention and the Department of Children And Families define child maltreatment as any act or series of acts of commission or omission by a parent or...
she suffered as a child and shows him the burn scars on her body. A deeply moved Aoyama pledges his love, and they have sex.
The next morning, Aoyama is awakened by a telephone call; it is the front desk wondering if, since his companion left, he too would be checking out. He realizes Asami is nowhere to be found. Aayoma tries to track her down using her résumé, but she is nowhere to be found.
Aoyama visits the old ballet studio where Asami claimed to have trained for 12 years. He finds that the studio is now inhabited only by a wheelchair-bound old man with artificial feet. It is revealed that the man inflicted the burn scars on Asami's legs.
Then he goes to the bar where Asami used to work and someone tells him that it has been closed for a year because the woman who was in charge, the wife of a record producer, was found dismembered. When the police put her body back together, they found three extra fingers, an extra ear, and an extra tongue.
Asami goes to Aoyama's house during his search. Once there, she finds a photo of his dead wife. Enraged, she drugs his liquor decanter and hides. Aoyama comes home, pours a drink, and begins feeling the effects of the drug. The movie cuts to a sequence about Asami's past and present. In one scene, the contents of the sack are revealed to be a man missing both feet, his tongue, one ear and three fingers on one hand. He crawls out of the sack and begs for food. Asami vomits into a dog dish and places it on the floor for the man. The man sticks his face in the bowl of vomit, and hungrily consumes it.
Aoyama collapses, and Asami returns to the drugged and paralyzed Aoyama. As she walks into the room, the audience sees the twisted body of Aoyama's pet dog. She proceeds to inject Aoyama with an agent that paralyzes his body, but keeps his nerves alert. She then torture
Torture
Torture is the act of inflicting severe pain as a means of punishment, revenge, forcing information or a confession, or simply as an act of cruelty. Throughout history, torture has often been used as a method of political re-education, interrogation, punishment, and coercion...
s him with needles in his abdomen and under his eyes. As she is torturing him, she tells him that, just like everyone else in her life, he has failed to love only her — she cannot stand that he would have even platonic feelings for anyone else, even his own son. She explains that she is torturing him to teach him the meaning of needing someone. She tells him that, "words create lies, pain can be trusted." She then cuts off his left foot with a wire saw
Wire saw
A wire saw is a machine using a metal wire or cable for cutting. There are two types of wire saw machines: continuous and oscillating . Sometimes the wire itself is referred to as a "blade"....
while giggling.
While Asami begins to cut off his other foot, she is surprised by Aoyama's son returning home. She hides and prepares to attack him. He discovers his father on the floor, turns, and is surprised by Asami. Suddenly Aoyama has a dream that he is waking up after he and Asami had made love for the first time, and that his ordeal was only a nightmare. She says that she accepts his marriage proposal, despite him never actually proposing, and says that she is the heroine of his life. He awakes from this dream to see his son swing around and Asami fail to disable him. Shigehiko runs up a flight of stairs to escape her; as she follows him, he kicks her down the stairs, breaking her neck. Aoyama tells his son to call the police. As Aoyama lies in agony on the floor, he continues to stare at the dying figure of Asami, her neck broken in a way that she is facing him. She mutters things that she had told him earlier about waiting for his call, and being excited to see him again. He then remembers that, in his dream, he comforted her about her abuse history by saying, "It's hard to forget about...but someday you'll feel...that life is wonderful."
Critical response
Audition had its share of audience walk-outs. When shown at the 2000 Rotterdam Film Festival, one enraged female viewer confronted Miike by shouting at him: "You're evil!"For its unflinching graphic content, the film has been likened to the film adaptation
Misery (film)
Misery is a 1990 American Psychological Horror Film based on Stephen King's 1987 novel of the same name. Directed by Rob Reiner, the film received critical acclaim for Kathy Bates' performance as the psychopathic Annie Wilkes...
of Stephen King's
Stephen King
Stephen Edwin King is an American author of contemporary horror, suspense, science fiction and fantasy fiction. His books have sold more than 350 million copies and have been adapted into a number of feature films, television movies and comic books...
Misery and Nagisa Oshima's
Nagisa Oshima
is a Japanese film director and screenwriter. After graduating from Kyoto University he was hired by Shochiku Ltd. and quickly progressed to directing his own movies, making his debut feature A Town of Love and Hope in 1959....
In the Realm of the Senses
In the Realm of the Senses
is a 1976 Franco-Japanese romantic drama film directed by Nagisa Oshima. It is a fictionalised and sexually explicit treatment of an incident from 1930s Japan, that of Sada Abe...
. However, the torture scene in the movie is very brief, and only a few shots show the actual torture, focusing more on Asami's sadistic enjoyment of it. Among filmmakers featured on Bravo's "100 Scariest Movie Moments
100 Scariest Movie Moments
The 100 Scariest Movie Moments is a television documentary miniseries that first aired in late October 2004 on Bravo. Aired in five 60-minute segments, the miniseries counts down what producer Anthony Timpone, writer Patrick Moses, and director Kevin Kaufman have determined as the 100 most...
" (on which the film appeared at #11), notable horror directors including Eli Roth
Eli Roth
Eli Raphael Roth is an American film director, producer, writer and actor. He is known for his role as Donny "The Bear Jew" Donowitz in Quentin Tarantino's Inglourious Basterds for which he won both a SAG Award and a BFCA Critic's Choice Award...
, John Landis
John Landis
John David Landis is an American film director, screenwriter, actor, and producer. He is known for his comedies, his horror films, and his music videos with singer Michael Jackson.-Early life and career:...
and Rob Zombie
Rob Zombie
Rob Zombie is an American musician, film director, screenwriter and film producer. He founded the heavy metal band White Zombie and has been nominated three times as a solo artist for the Grammy Award for Best Metal Performance.Zombie has also established a career as a film director, creating the...
found the film very difficult to watch, given its grisly content; Landis said that the film was so disturbing that he couldn't enjoy it at all. Bloody Disgusting
Bloody Disgusting
Bloody Disgusting is a website that covers horror movies with reviews, interviews and news. It is currently run by Brad Miska, and Tom Owen. According to one source, the site has 1.5 million unique visitors and 20 million page views each month. It is widely considered to be the "world's most...
ranked the film fourteenth in their list of the 'Top 20 Horror Films of the Decade', with the article saying "Considered by many to be Takashi Miike’s masterpiece, this cringe-inducing, seriously disturbed film boasts one of the most unbearable scenes of torture in movie history... It’s revolting in the best possible way; the prolific Miike goes for the jugular here, and he cuts deep."
External links
- Audition at CrunchyrollCrunchyrollCrunchyroll is an American website and international online community focused on streaming East Asian media including anime, manga, drama, music, electronic entertainment, and auto racing content...
- Audition at MetacriticMetacriticMetacritic.com is a website that collates reviews of music albums, games, movies, TV shows and DVDs. For each product, a numerical score from each review is obtained and the total is averaged. An excerpt of each review is provided along with a hyperlink to the source. Three colour codes of Green,...